Elden Ring - What We Want At E3 2021

Since From Software released a trailer for Elden Ring at E3 2019, the developer has been fairly quiet on what's going on with the upcoming game. We don't know whether Elden Ring will make an appearance at E3 2021, but we sure hope it does.

Below, we go over everything that we currently know about Elden Ring (spoiler alert: it's not much) and list what we hope to see of the game at E3 this year. [Update: Not long after we published this, our dreams came true: We got a new Elden Ring trailer and release date.]

What We Know So Far

We know precious little about Elden Ring--its announcement trailer, in traditional From Software fashion, was not very straightforward in explaining what's going on or what the player will be doing or why the player will want to do it. The developer is keeping details very close to the chest.

We do know that From Software is developing the game in collaboration with Game Of Thrones author George R.R. Martin when it comes to the construction of its story and world. That world will seemingly be a bit more open than past From Software titles--you'll explore an open environment composed of different kingdoms, each ruled by a powerful entity.

Whether your overall goal is to defeat each of these rulers is unclear, but we do know that you can fight them, and beating them will allow you to claim their unique powers for yourself (not unlike how you can transfigure boss souls in the Dark Souls series to acquire special abilities and weapons).

In an interview with GameSpot, Xbox head Phil Spencer said, "As somebody who's played all of Miyazaki's games over at least the last decade, [Elden Ring] is clearly the most ambitious game that he's done. I mean, I love his games, but seeing some of the gameplay mechanics stuff that he's tackling, he and the team are tackling this time, of the setting, working with another creator in terms of story. I love it."

Elden Ring is currently only scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, though we wouldn't be surprised to hear that the game is also coming to Xbox Series X|S and PS5.

Related News:

• A Leaked Elden Ring Trailer Is Making The Rounds Online, But Don't Get Too Excited
• Phil Spencer Has Played "Quite A Bit" Of Elden Ring, Calls It Miyazaki's "Most Ambitious Game"
• Dark Souls Creator Says Elden Ring Is The Next Step For The Genre

What's Confirmed For E3 2021

Currently nothing Elden Ring-related has been confirmed for E3 2021. That said, the game's publisher, Bandai Namco, is hosting its own livestream during E3. Elden Ring could make an appearance there.

Elden Ring was also first teased during Microsoft's E3 2019 press conference, so we could see the game make an appearance during this year's Xbox & Bethesda E3 showcase. No way of knowing until it airs.

What We Hope To See At E3 2021

At this point? Anything.

We'd love to see a deep dive gameplay showcase of Elden Ring which explains whether the game embodies a similar structure to From Software's Soulsborne games or whether it takes a page out of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's book and is only loosely inspired by what the developer has done before. Getting a concrete look at Elden Ring in action would be so cool!

Barring that, another cinematic trailer that's not as opaque in its symbolism would be nice--we'd love to get a little bit of concrete information about what we're actually doing in Elden Ring and why we're doing it.

Honestly, at this point, we'd settle for a 10-second teaser that simply confirms whether Elden Ring is scheduled to come out this year. We just want to see something.